‘The people make a successful practice’ is the view of Steve Whitlock MCIAT, one of four partners in the Hampshire based practice Lyons + Sleeman + Hoare. ‘We pride ourselves on the personal approach and our high level of service especially in designing  and  technical expertise’. This service has lead to the practice being featured in the top 100 architects’ practices, as identified by Architects Journal, and is reflected in their work with major clients such as Marks and Spencer and Tescos.

Based in a converted brewery, the offices of Lyons + Sleeman + Hoare can be found in Hartley Wintney, Hook, Hampshire, with 120 staff encompassing all disciplines. Turnover for  2006 is set to reach £7.5m. Work is spread across the UK and Republic of Ireland and there are hopes to grow over the next few years with additional staff. In terms of marketing, the practice relies on its reputation gained over the past forty years. The practice was formed in 1963 as Stevens and Partners and changed its name in 1982. Originally London based, the practice moved to its current premises in 1993.

The main core of the practice’s work is in retail and retail lead mixed use regeneration, particularly in shopping  centres incorporating leisure. The largest project the practice has worked on is the redevelopment of Basingstoke town centre, with 70,000 sq m of retail, leisure and catering. The project went beyond just  providing a shopping centre. It brought a new face and personality to the town, significant new public spaces and greatly enhanced facilities to add to the vitality of the whole town. The scheme provided a two level covered street offering a new department store, separate variety and food stores and a full range of retail outlets and support facilities. Similar projects have included the Castle Quay Shopping Centre in Banbury, the main square in Camberley, the Liffey Valley Shopping Centre in the Repblic of Ireland and a  town centre in Edmonton Green, which has been in development seen January 1998 and is due to be completed in a few years time. The practice has won a number of awards from the BCSC (British Council of Shopping Centres) recognising excellence in retail development.

A large part of the practice’s work is for interiors (and exteriors) for Marks and Spencer and Tesco combining a total of around 100 stores. Seven stores are currently in development with five more in the coming months. The biggest interest however is in regeneration. One of the biggest challenges the practice faced was the Wharfside project in Penzance with residential on top of retail outlets situated right on the seafront. Conservation work also plays a large part in the practice’s work such as Covent Garden’s market buildings and the conversion of the Corn Exchange in Newbury into a multipurpose arts centre. Sustainability is important, with a green wave project which will see a supermarket made from timber frame and sustainable materials reducing the energy footprint. Other projects leading the field are multi-level cinema complexes for UGC in Cardiff and also in Glasgow. The practice also works on offices and factories and one-off special houses.

Steve Whitlock has been a member of the Institute since 1990 and joined the practice in 1980. Joining the practice initially as a Junior Architectural Technician, Steve was taken under the wing of one of its then Directors, Alan Hoare. ‘Alan was a SAAT member, as it was then known, and was a great mentor to me and encouraged me to become a member of the Institute.’ Sadly Alan died a few years ago but Steve is carrying on his work by mentoring and encouraging new talent primarily by taking on students in their placement year from Southampton Solent University. ‘I think it was great that the Architectural Technology degree came on line and if I could get more graduates from these degrees then I would. We were losing all the bright people and now we are getting them back with the degree.’

Steve left school at 16 with ‘O’ levels and went straight into a practice as a junior in Basingstoke literally making the coffee and with plenty of water colouring to do. He then went to technical college studying advanced technology and law and was taken on by Lyons + Sleeman + Hoare, which allowed him to run his first commercial project at 23 and to progress to opening and running an office in London and then Camberley. Steve was made a partner in the practice in 1996. ‘The construction industry is certainly a lot less adversarial than it used to be with a lot more team working, and quality is a big issue for everybody; and projects move a lot faster than they used to.’

To maintain the practice’s good reputation and to maintain quality, a full-time project co-ordinator manages workload from day to day and, to underpin the workforce’s skills a full CPD programme is in place with internal seminars at least once a month, on topics such as Part L and rights of light. ‘It is very, very important to maintain CPD and as new technology has been the biggest impact upon my work to date, it is essential that the practice provides this’ adds Steve.
 
Another vital issue for the practice is the use of IT and CAD, although Steve personally prefers the drawing board: ‘It is important that people can draw to help the development of design and it has a more personal touch.’

Steve’s role as a partner includes liaising with clients, talking to associates on projects, maintaining the quality assurance system, risk management and CDM activities and he is also heavily involved in the policy and running of the business.

The practice is broken down into three working groups, each headed by a Group Leader Associate. Partners can then delegate work into any workgroup depending on expertise and capacity, and group leaders manage the workload on behalf of the partners and report back. ‘This is a good set-up and works well’ says Steve, ‘compared to the old design and technical teams, we can now mix the expertise as a single project team.’

‘My key role as a Chartered Architectural Technologist is to set the technical standards for the practice. I also chair the Technical Forum and Quality Assurance Board.’ Steve feels that Architectural Technologists do not get the recognition they deserve:  ‘the recent Chartership was very good indeed and has made more impact in the industry. It is a good step to launching the profile of the Architectural Technologist discipline and it is up to the Institute and its members to get out and market the profession, especially to the general public. I think there is also a missed opportunity with marketing to Contractors.’

The working relationship with other professionals has improved greatly: ‘there are no issues in this practice with other professionals and we all enjoy a great working relationship. In terms of public perception however it is different as they look on us as architects. Personally I would like to see the protected title disappear and prefer us all to be technical architects.’  

This year, the practice received a commendation in the AJ100 Special Awards as Employer of the Year. ‘A lot of this success is from staff annual appraisals’ says Steve. ‘We offer a flexible benefits working package where staff can choose to have money for holidays, gym time etc instead of the usual private health schemes etc. A new initiative that has been taken up by 92% of the practice is a half an hour lunch break instead of an hour and every few weeks they get a long weekend.’ The practice also has good social activities including sports, days out and most recently a camping trip in Bournemouth.